PrivateFly.com Raises £2M Funding

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PrivateFly.com,
the leading online aggregator for private
jet charter, today announces its plans for expansion, following
successful investment fundraising of £2 million generated from eight
private investors.

The company, whose network accesses over 7000 aircraft based globally,
says the funds will be used to deliver a roll-out to new international
markets, significant usability upgrades across all its platforms,
including those for mobile apps and enhanced real-time integration of
pricing and availability with aircraft operators.

PrivateFly’s chairman, Richard Carrick, commented: “The recession has
been a catalyst for change in the private aviation industry, with
increased cost-consciousness creating a clear demand for more price
transparency and immediacy. PrivateFly.com has used this to its
advantage, delivering significant enhancements in response speed, price
and ease of use within the charter segment.

“The successful fundraising demonstrates investor confidence in the
industry, particularly the ad-hoc charter market. Other private aviation
segments, such as fractional ownership, have struggled post-recession
due to the customer requirement of upfront cash commitment. Challenging
market conditions give greater opportunity for profit and PrivateFly.com
is a highly-scalable, low-risk, low-cost investment opportunity with a
lean, online business model and aggressive pricing strategy. It ticked
all the investor boxes”.

Adam Twidell, PrivateFly’s CEO and co-founder, added: “The money raised
will be used to invest in innovative technology which will bring
considerable efficiency benefits to customers and registered aircraft
operators. It will also allow us to open up our distribution through
investment in marketing, including to new territories.

“The race is now on, with other players testing different disruptive
technologies to turn this traditional market on his head. The
traditional broker with legacy business practices is being threatened by
new business models, just as online travel aggregators challenged high
street agents several years ago. The opportunity for change is
significant and PrivateFly can now accelerate forward to our goal of
delivering ultimate choice and agility to the global private aviation
customer of tomorrow”.

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

PrivateFly.com timeline

March 2008: Launched by co-founders and husband-and-wife
team Adam Twidell and Carol Cork, who sold their house for initial
seed funding. Adam had previously served 10 years as a pilot in the
RAF, three years at NetJets, and was a consultant for London City
Airport’s bid to start a private jet hub at RAF Northolt.

February 2011: Awarded Website of The Year in Flight
International’s ‘Webbies’ awards, recognising online excellence across
the aviation industry - the judges describing it as “the iTunes” of
aviation.